Anti-transgender bills introduced around the nation; critics blast the move

By Teddy Grant Published: April 1, 2021

Anti-transgender bills introduced around the nation; critics blast the move

FILE - In this June 14, 2016, file photo, Filipino members of the LGBQT community stand around a rainbow flag with a heart-shaped symbol during a vigil to pay tribute to the victims of the Orlando, Fla. mass shooting at the University of the Philippines campus in suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines. The first study of its kind has found that people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer or gender non-confirming are nearly four times as likely to be victims of violent crime than those outside such communities. Although other research has long shown that LGBQT people and gender minorities are disproportionately affected by crime, the study published in Science Advances on Friday, Oct. 2, 2020, looked at data that has only been collected since 2016, making for the first comprehensive and national study to examine the issue. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

By: Teddy Grant

State legislatures across the country have introduced anti-transgender laws that some LGBTQ advocates say will be harmful to transgender and non-binary youth.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 28 states are considering 60 anti-trans bills that would see trans girls blocked from participating in girls’ sports and restricting trans youth from accessing gender-affirming healthcare.

“These are extreme bills and are clearly targeting trans youth since conversion therapy bans didn’t work,” Kylar Broadus, the founder and director of Trans People of Color Coalition, said Thursday on Start Your Day with Sharon Reed and Mike Hill.

Broadus, who is the first openly trans person to testify in front of the Senate to fight discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace, added, “all medical authorities do not approve these bans. They target and isolate trans youths who are at 70% at risk of suicide ideation.”

Arkansas, Mississippi, South Dakota and Tennessee have already passed legislation placing those restrictions this month, CNN reported.

On March 11, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves banned transgender girls and women in the state’s public schools and colleges from competing in women’s sports.

When Reeves signed the anti-trans bills into law, he said, “This important piece of legislation will ensure that young girls in Mississippi have a fair, level playing field in public schools,” according to CNN.

In addition to Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee passed anti-trans legislation this month.

“This has been a significant part of my work at the ACLU for the past six years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice at the ACLU, told CNN. “There have never been this many bills targeting trans youth voted out of committee and then making it to the floor.”

Broadus said children know who they are, more so than he did when he was growing up in the 1960s, and that he was lucky that his “Black parents” knew who he was and that other Black parents need to understand their transgender child.

“We’re all marginalized, we’re all treated differently and if you can get that, then you can get being trans,” Broadus said. “The most targeted are the people of the intersectionality of being Black and trans.”